Miguel Cabrera's Record $292 Million Contract Latest Example Of How Flush MLB Is

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Miguel Cabrera has two years and $44 million left on the eight-year, $152 million contract he signed with the Detroit Tigers in 2008, but the Tigers had no interest in Cabrera ever sniffing free agency. The first baseman is about to get locked up long-term, according to multiple reports. His new contract, pending a physical, extends his existing deal eight years for $248 million. The $31 million annual average is the highest among athletes across all team sports (Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw held the previous record of $30.7 million). Cabrera will earn $292 million over 10 years, which exceeds the previous record of $275 million held by Alex Rodriguez. Cabrera's deal carries vesting options for years 11 and 12 worth $30 million each.

The righty slugger is now the highest-paid player in baseball.

People can debate all day the wisdom of locking up a soon to be 31 year old for the next ten years (
ESPN's Keith Law gives his take on why this deal will be a disaster for the Tigers). Recent history has shown that contracts that long rarely work out well (see A-Rod, Albert Pujols, Prince Fielder). Right now, Cabrera is the greatest hitter in the game winning the last two American League MVP awards, as well as baseball's first Triple Crown in 35 years for his monster 2012 season. He has also been incredibly durable the past decade playing in an average of 157 games a year. Good contract or not is up for debate, but there is no denying how flush with cash MLB is right now.

Cabrera's deal is the third $200 million contract doled out this offseason after Kershaw's $215 million deal and the 10-year, $240 million pact Robinson Cano signed with the Seattle Mariners. There were only five $200+ million deals in all of baseball before this winter. Only four players made $20 million in salary during the 2009 season and three of them were New York Yankees. This season there are 22 players across 11 teams with contracts that will pay at least $20 million.

Massive new TV deals have supercharged salaries across the game. The Dodgers' $8.35 billion, 25-year deal kicks off this year, as does the Mariners' $2.5 billion, 18-year pact. The Philadelphia Phillies signed a 25-year deal in January worth $5 billion in cash and equity in Comcast SportsNet. It begins with the 2016 season. The Dodgers and Phillies have a combined eight players under contract this season that will be paid at least $20 million in salary. Every MLB team is cashing in on the lust for DVR-proof programming under baseball's new national TV contracts with partners Fox and ESPN. The eight-year, $12.4 million deals that begin this season are worth more than twice as much as the previous pacts.

Baseball remains the only major U.S. sport without a team salary cap (MLB's luxury tax is only a minor deterrent for the free-spending teams). The NBA takes it a step further with a cap of on individual players salaries, which is 35% of the team salary cap for any one player. The NHL and NBA also restrict contract lengths to seven and five years respectively. Baseball's lack of any type of salary cap is the reason that the 28 largest contracts in U.S. team sports history are baseball deals.

The Tigers had the sport's highest local TV ratings each of the last two years. They made almost $40 million last season under their current deal with Fox Sports Detroit. The Tigers are locked into their Fox deal until 2017 and don't have the option to reset the rights fee as is the case with some regional sports network deals. But the Tigers will be in line for a big raise when the the time comes and they are not waiting until then to lock up their biggest star.

I am a senior editor at Forbes and focus mainly on the business of sports and our annual franchise valuations. I also spend a lot of my time digging into what athletes earn on and off the field of play. I've profiled a bunch of athletes that go by one name: LeBron, Shaq, Dan...